Board of Directors
Jonah Fertig-Burd, Board Chair
Jonah joined the MIO Board in 2021 and is the current Board Chair. He got involved in MIO because he believes in the power of theater and art to create social justice and community belonging.
He is a consultant, facilitator, coach, farmer, cook, and artist. He is a consultant with and owner of InterRooted, which co-creates transformations rooted in love and liberation and a peer advisor for worker cooperatives with the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.
He is a co-owner of Celebration Tree Farm & Wellness Center, a cooperative growing organic Christmas trees and providing wellness services and events.
Over 20 years, Jonah has developed nonprofits and cooperatives, worked in food service and agriculture, and advocated for equitable food policies. He has served as Community Partner for Food Systems at the Sewall Foundation, directed Cooperative Food Systems at CDI and co-founded Local Sprouts Cooperative.
Board member for the Cooperative Fund of the North East, and Land in Common Community Land Trust.
He enjoys cooking, art, music, and forest walks. Lives in Durham, Maine with his wife and two children.
Pronouns: he/him/his
Mark Galvez, Board Treasurer
Mark joined the MIO Board of Directors in 2020. Mark has spent 20 years in accounting/finance ranging from private equities, sports entertainment but mainly non-profit. He’s worked in all aspects of month end close and year end close, while providing financials to executives and board members. Budget vs actual process and lead contact for all accounting operation issues.
Mark moved to Maine 10 years ago to create a better work life balance, and enjoy the beautiful landscapes that Maine has to offer.
He became involved with MIO through a mutual friend seeking to expand his community beyond work and friends. “I believe everyone may have had some experience with the law that resulted in a friend or family member to become a part of the incarceration system. MIO is here to help in various ways and I’m excited to be a part of that.”
Pronouns: he/him/his
Reba Askari, Board Member
Reba joined the MIO Board in 2025. Reba is a theatre educator, director, and arts administrator with over 15 years of experience in nonprofit theatre leadership. She currently serves as Artistic Director of the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, where she develops programming, leads professional productions, and forges community partnerships. Reba teaches creative drama and theatre for young audiences at the University of Southern Maine and has presented nationally on applied theatre and arts education. Her work is grounded in a commitment to inclusive, accessible, and community-engaged theatre practices. She is thrilled to join the board of Maine Inside Out to support its mission of using theatre as a tool for connection, healing, and social change.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Sahra Hassan, Board Member
Sahra joined the MIO board in 2025. Sahra is a Kenyan-born Somali attorney, educator, and refugee whose lifelong commitment to justice, equity, and community empowerment shapes her work on the board of Maine Inside Out. She was raised in Portland, Maine after resettling from a refugee camp at age eight and is the oldest of nine siblings. A first-generation college graduate, Sahra earned a B.A. in Applied Social and Cultural Studies from the University of New England, with minors in Political Science and Psychology.
Before attending law school, Sahra spent two years as an educator and coordinator of the Make It Happen program at Casco Bay High School in Portland. Inspired by her students and her community, she decided to pursue a legal education, which led her to the University of Maine School of Law. At the UMaine Law, Sahra served in multiple leadership roles supporting BIPOC students, was elected Class Speaker for the Class of 2024, and provided direct legal representation to asylum seekers through the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic.
Now an Immigration Attorney at Gillies Law in Portland, Sahra combines her legal training and lived experience to advocate for individuals navigating a complex and often unjust immigration system. She views the law as both a tool and a responsibility—and considers it a privilege to advocate for those most in need in our communities.
Sahra’s connection to Maine Inside Out is rooted in shared values: healing through art and storytelling, centering the voices of those most impacted by systems of oppression, and building community power from the inside out. She believes deeply in the transformative potential of all people and sees her service on the MIO board as an extension of her lifelong commitment to justice, equity, and collective liberation. For Sahra, this work is not just professional—it’s personal. It is an enduring act of love and solidarity with the community that helped shape her.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Mary Lou Michael, Board Member
Maine Inside Out has been inspiring Mary Lou since 2018 when she first saw MIO artists stage a theatre performance, one that connected her as an audience member to their lived experience. She welcomed the invitation to join the Board in 2020.
It’s ever more clear to Mary Lou that Maine Inside Out is making a difference in the lives of people who are system-impacted, in ways that are empowering - opportunities to create original performances, to build relationships that are enduring, to truly know they are better than any mistake they have made.
Mary Lou comes to volunteering from a 35 year career in the field of organization development, working with leaders in the US and abroad. Her doctoral research brought new skills in understanding and bridging differences in lived experience.
In addition to MIO, Mary Lou is active in her home town of Yarmouth through Yarmouth Community Alliance for Racial Justice and the Police Services Advisory Council. She celebrates being a mother and a grandmother and is writing her life story based on the thoughtful, creative questions of her 9 grandchildren.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Robert Pollock, Board Member
Robert joined the MIO Board of Directors in 2024. He has worked with the justice system and its intersection with the arts for nearly two decades. He is the former Prison and Justice Writing Program Manager for PEN America, where he designed and published 6 annual anthologies of award winning work of writers who were incarcerated. He has led projects with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, Musicambia, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, Music on the Inside, and Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Advisory Committee. He has collaborated with the Fortune Society, Osborne Association, the Old Globe's Shakespeare in Prison program, and several national justice grassroots organizations. He illustrated the children's book "Sing, Sing, Midnight!" by Emily Ridge Gallagher, which has been used across the country to help families talk about visitation and incarceration. He has spoken in workshops and panels at Columbia Law, Harvard Law, NYU, Yale Law, NY Bar Association, John Jay, and many other events about power of the arts in prison education, community-building and restorative justice practices. Robert is a Fall 2019 New York Community Trust Leadership Fellow.
Pronouns: he/him/his
Alicia Ricker, Board Member
Alicia joined the MIO Board in 2024. Alicia has been an educator in public schools for over 15 years. She is currently a Math Coach & Math Interventionist in the Oxford Hills School District. Alicia was drawn to MIO through the pilot program at Lewiston Middle School in 2022. She served as the school’s contact/organizational person for students to be able to participate in the MIO program embedded in the school day. Alicia’s passion and belief in MIO’s work is from seeing first hand how the facilitators of MIO engaged in working with youth and the ways these students grew. Seeing students' voices heard through theater and hearing them advocate to the community for alternative ways to address conflict in their youth is so impactful and critical to our growth as a community.
Alicia lives with her 2 daughters and husband. She enjoys skiing with her family in the winters!
Pronouns: she/her/hers